Funding Opportunities

The University of Pennsylvania Institute on Aging (IOA) and Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center (ADCC) will fund up to six (6) one-year multidisciplinary pilot grants in the 2017-2018 academic year to support biomedical, epidemiological, behavioral or health services research, as well as basic science, clinical or psychosocial research. Two of the pilots, funded by Penn’s ADCC, will focus on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related neurodegenerative disorders as well as healthy brain aging. The remaining pilots, supported by funding from the Perelman School of Medicine at Penn (PSOM) to the IOA, will focus on aging and aging-related diseases as well as healthy aging. Applicants may consider using data from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center. More information can be found at their website: https://www.alz.washington.edu/. Also, AD biomarker data can be obtained from the AD Neuroimaging Initiative (http://adni.loni.usc.edu/data-samples/access-data/), and Parkinson's disease biomarker data from the Parkinson's Progression Marker Initiative (http://www.ppmi-info.org/access-dataspecimens/download-data/ ) while genetic data can be obtained from the AD Genetics Consortium (https://alois.med.upenn.edu's /adgc/) and the AD Sequence Project (https://www.niagads.org/adsp/content/home). The Principal Investigator (PI) for each of these pilots must be a member of the University of Pennsylvania fulltime faculty from any of its 12 schools. Collaboration with other departments or schools is strongly encouraged. In addition, applicants must ensure that the PI for the pilot commits some percent effort to the project, as reflected in the budget. Each pilot will be funded at a level of up to $50,000/year for personnel and supply costs, but not tuition costs, student dissertation research, equipment or instruments. The purpose of these one-year, non-renewable grants is to assist faculty in obtaining preliminary data to serve as the basis of a grant application to the NIH or other public or private agencies concerned with aging and aging related neurodegenerative disorders. A committee of IOA and ADCC members will review all proposals. Funding depends on scientific merit, and the likelihood that the pilots will lead to independent funding to continue the research beyond the pilot studies. Study design and a data analysis plan, as well as the rational for both, is essential to include in addition to sample size and power calculations.

Priority will be given to:

Faculty in the early stages of their career who seek to enter research fields on aging or AD and related neurodegenerative disorders.

Senior faculty who intend to shift their research emphasis in their pilot grant application towards aging or AD and related disorders. Investigators who have received extramural support (R21, R29, R01, P01, etc.) in the past should include a paragraph on how this work represents a new direction for their group.

Application Process:

Applications will be considered for all pilot grant award programs, for which they are eligible, as described in this announcement, and they should be formatted in the style of a NIH PHS 398 application. However, a title page should be substituted for the NIH face page. Application items #5 and #6 below (combined) should be limited to 2 pages in total (exclusive of title page with abstract, budget, biosketches, other support, letters of collaboration, literature cited, etc. as in PHS 398). Animal and/or IRB protocols may be pending.

Organization of the application:

Title Page with Abstract (one page; not the NIH face page) showing the title of grant, name of PI, affiliation, address, telephone numbers and email address, as well as an abstract of the proposed project using language that an educated lay audience can understand

Budget (costs for personnel and supplies, but no tuition costs, equipment or instruments)

Biosketch

Other Support

Specific Aims

Research Strategy (Significance, Innovation, Approach)

Human Subjects (if applicable and protocol may be pending)

Vertebrate Animals Sections (if applicable and protocol may be pending)

Consultants (if applicable)

Consortium Contractual Arrangements (if applicable)

Literature Cited

Certification of Patient Oriented Research (if applicable)

It is obligatory that Pilot Awardees provide a final report at the end of the pilot year. Financial reports will also be required and Awardees must be responsive to subsequent requests for updates on publications and subsequent grants stemming from their Pilot as this information is required for reporting to NIA and the Dean so it is essential to help ensure the continuation of this program. In addition, IOA Pilot Awardees must present their pilot data at an IOA Retreat. For more information, contact Kathryn Jedrziewski, IOA Deputy Director, at (215) 898-2445 or e-mail: jedrzmk@mail.med.upenn.edu.